Twists and turns
by HeavenlyAngelicGD
Summary: When Max's mom dies, she has to move with a dad she never met,leaving freinds behind. There she finds Ari and surpasses many things. So what happens when she moves back to California, years later? Will anyone recognize her? Who will find out their secret? WINGS, FAX! and my first fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! This is my first fanfic, so for whoever is reading this, please tell me what you think.**

Max (11years old)

I'm sitting at the back of the class. I finish writing the note that I was writing and turn around to pass it to one of my friends, Iggy.

"Hey! Iggy. Pass this to Fang." I whisper so that the teacher won't hear.

He grabs the piece of paper and passes it to Fang, who's two seats behind him. A minute later a small piece of paper comes flying back at me. This is how our conversation went:

(Max, _Fang_)

~~~ We need to talk Fang.

_About what?_

Many things.

_Like?_

Why do you keep ignoring me?

_I'm not ignoring you._

Yeah, you are. You won talk to me in lunch, and you're hanging out with LISSA'S GROUP! Heck you barely talk to me after school! Is that not ignoring me?!

_No. _

Look, fine then. If you're gonna keep ignoring me, then I won't talk to you, until you decide I'm good enough to speak to_._ Better yet, until you decide who's your real friend? Oh yeah and yesterday you left me stranded in the park! Just when I needed to tell you something very important. ~~~ (end of passing notes)

I finish scribbling this down and then throw it at him. I watch as he reads it and then picks up his pencil and starts writing. His dark hair falling in front of his face and covering the paper. The important thing I needed to talk to him about is that my mom decided we were moving. I tried to argue with her, but then it seemed as if this was something really important. And when something is important to her there's no way to argue. She had an expression, as if something bad was about to happen, so I stopped arguing and just helped her with packing. We are supposed to be moving in three days. From California, all the way to New York. Iggy already knows and now I just needed to tell Fang, but he never came. Instead he decided to go hang out with his so called "friends."

Just as he puts his pencil down the school's speaker blares on. "_Joanna Maximum Montes, please come to the office."_

Of course the entire class turns around to look at me. Iggy's eyebrows rise as if asking _what did you do now? _ I shrug and walk out of the class and towards the office. Truth is that not even _I_ know what I did this time. So I can't help wondering what this is all about.

As I enter principal Cano's office, the first thing I see is the police standing right next to Mrs. Cano's desk. The man is tall and looks menacing. Immediately I don't trust him. His eyes are an ice cold blue and his lips are in a thin line, his hair is neatly pulled back and he has a slight scowl on his face as If he never smiles. He bends down and looks me in the eye.

"You're Joanna?" his voice is raspy as if he smokes too much. I nod my head and ignore the urge to correct my name as 'Max'. "My name is Herman Pimentel, just call me Pimentel." He finally says. I want to laugh, but I don't think this man would take it very kindly. So instead I keep my mouth shut. This surprises even _me_.

I finally notice the worried and sympathetic look Mrs. Cano sends in my way. Suddenly I feel nervous. _What did I do so that a police comes to my school, just to take me out of class? Or so that Mrs. Cano can send me such an expression? Is it really this bad?_ I notice that they're still staring at me and truthfully, it's getting on my nerves. I finally find myself with confidence again and speak. "Can I ask why I'm here so we can get over this, and I can head back to class?"

_Pimentel _ gestures to the seats in front of the desk."Have a seat this, is going to be difficult to say." I reluctantly sit down and wait for what they're about to tell me. Mr. Pimentel sits right across from me and folds his hand neatly in front of him. I watch as he leans forward and attempts an expression of sympathy and sincerity. Key word: _attempts._ Finally, after a long time of anxiousness, he decides to speak.

"I'm extremely sorry to tell you, that your mother was in a car accident and she wasn't able to make it."

**So? Good? Bad? Please review and tell what you think! I would really appreciate it! And don't worry about me getting offended; I'll listen to good and bad comments. Should I continue with this story or do a different? Is it interesting so far?**


	2. A brother

**Sorry I'm still kind of new to this. Anyways, I'm doing ch.2 and tell me if you're still interested!**

**Chapter 2 **

_1 day later…_

I stare out the window of the black car I'm in now. Still not being able to believe that this is happening to me. How could this have happened? Why did this have to happen to mom? My only family I've ever known? Now I have to be sent off to a dad I've never even _seen_. Mom never had any pictures of him, and she never talked about him. I just assumed he left us as soon as I was born. Now I can't help wondering if he will like me. Will he reject me? Did he ever care about me? What will he think of me?

I'm snapped back to reality when I hear the car's trunk slam shut. The car shaking with the force. Pimentel climbs into the car and without another word starts the engine.

I was sent to the police station right after Pimentel broke the news of my mom dyeing** (?). **I practically spent all of the rest of the day there, while they tried to look for any family relatives that could take custody over of me. The next morning, I was taken to my house where my things were already packed. What with all the moving plans mom had.

My chest tightens as I think that instead of moving to another place with mom, I'm moving to another place with a complete stranger.

I look behind me, as the car takes us farther away from the only place I've ever known. From my only friends. Friends who will never know why I was called to the office. Maybe Iggy will assume that my mom just picked me up earlier than what we expected, but Fang…..

Fang will never know the reason of my disappearance.

Finally we are out of town. I lay down on the car, a long ride waits before me, but I'm glad. I don't want to get there at all. I don't want to meet my "long-lost" father. I just want mom to be here with me.

My chest constricts at the thought of mom. I will never see those chocolate brown eyes staring down at me again. I won't ever see her smiling down at me for all my foolishness. I won't ever hear her calm, gentle voice. I won't be able to feel her arms wrap around me when I simply just need a hug. I won't ever smell the vanilla scent that she seemed to be wafted in. None of it. It's like all of her just disappeared, which in a way she did. Because she's gone for good and I won't ever see her again.

Finally, after 24 hours since I've been told about my mom's death, a tear slips from the corner of my eye. With that tear, more come, until I'm crying silently. My body shaking from the force, but no sound escapes my mouth. Suddenly they aren't only tears of sadness, pain, and grief, but also from anger. Anger and hatred for that drunken man who killed my mother.

O0o0o0

It took long hours to finally get here. First in the car, and then in the airplane. Now we're standing in front of a huge blue house. Right in front of the porch. I stand behind Pimentel as he knocks on the door. I'm not ready for this, a new life. I tighten the grip on my suitcase as footsteps descend through the house.

The man standing in front of the door is really thin, with glasses framing his face. Sandy blonde hair, unlike the dirty blonde that my mom and I had. His eyes are a mix between gray and blue. While his thin, long fingers grasp the knob. Behind him a small boy, around four years old, hides underneath the staircase. Light brown hair falling in front of beautiful gray eyes. He's small and also thin. A cute button nose placed on his round, childish face. The man in the doorway looks us over and smiles at Pimentel. His smile is nasty and I don't like it. He opens the door further for us to step inside.

"Come in, come in." he says as we follow him inside the house and into the living room. The little boy scurries from under the stairs and follows us. We sit down on the couch and wait in silence. Soon enough it gets uncomfortable, and to break the silence Pimentel takes out the stack of papers he brought with him.

"I'm police officer Pimentel and these are the papers that need to be filled out to have full custody of Joanna" he says as he hand the stack of papers to the man. He takes them and finally says his own name. "Jeb Batchelder **(?)**" he says as he extends his arm. They shake hands and then Jeb reaches behind him for the little boy. "This is my son, Ari. His mom died after he was born but at least now he won't be so lonely. Joanna, this is your half brother." He says, while still holding on to the boy, Ari.

Ari sends a small tentative smile in my direction. I can't help but smile back. After some seconds I realize what he called me. I turn to him and finally speak"Max, you can call me Max" I whisper to them. Jeb pushes Ari towards me and tells him to show me around while the 'adults' speak. He walks right up to me and takes my hand in his little ones. I follow him as he leads me up the stairs. He gestures to the first door we pass by "that's weill daddy sweeps" he says. He takes me further down the left side of the house and opens the door.

"This is youll loom" he tells me in that little kid voice, he has. The room is big, with a medium sized bed to the right, an empty desk on the left and a small lamp placed on top of it. The rest is bare.

I smile at him and decide that maybe I could be nice. Maybe I won't hate this place so much. "Can you show me your room?" I ask him gently. He nods before taking my hand again and leading me to the room next to mine. He opens the door and flops on his belly on the bed. I lay down next to him and unconsciously take his hand in mine.

"I always wanned a sis or bwother" he tells me. "Daddy is scawy when he gets mad" he adds. I gently squeeze his hand.

"I'll make sure he doesn't scare you anymore." I tell him. A huge grin spreads on his face and suddenly he throws himself at me, hugging me.

Who knew, I lose a mother, but earn a little brother.


	3. A new family

**Thanks to everyone who is reading and encouraging me on this story! I really hope it's good. Oh yeah, as you can see, there will be a lot of time-skipping. Just so that I can get on with the story a bit more faster. Don't worry though, a bit of what happened will be explained throughout the story.**

**Chapter 3**

**Three and half years later**

**Third POV**

_The snow is packed hard, making it into ice. The fancy car rounds the corner, but just as they do, a small white figure stands right in front of them. "Watch out!" the man in the back of the car screams. The driver makes an attempt to hit the brakes, but it's no use. Then, just before the car hits the white figure, another shape throws itself in front of the first figure. Both passengers of the car scream as the second figure is sent flying into the air, a tight hold on the first figure. They watch in horror as the second figure, which is taller and slender, twists around to land on its back, softening the landing of the first figure, which is smaller and also slender._

_Both men stare in shock as both figures lay still, in the snow. Snowflakes falling on top of the two kids. Finally, after long minutes, the man in the back speaks, obviously the one in command. "Jose, go check if they're all right."_

_The driver, Jose, opens the door to the car; hand on the holster of his gun in case something dangerous happens. He can't help but think that he might have just killed two kids. As he nears the two kids, he notices the thin, white gowns they seem to wear as clothing. He also notices that the taller frame belongs to a girl, with dirty blonde hair, probably fifteen or fourteen years old. While the smaller frame belongs to a little boy, with light brown hair, who seems around six or seven. Jose takes the boy away from the tight grip of the girl, and carries him to the back of the car, where the other man is sitting._

"_Mr. Whitley, the boy seems to be alive, but I need to make sure the girl is alright" he says as he hands the boy to Mr. Whitley. The man nods and Jose leaves to where the girl lies. As Mr. Whitley gathers the little boy in his lap he notices his appearance. The boys hair is greasy, unwashed. His face covered in bruises and gashes, as well as the part of his legs that are visible. A fresh cut runs right in the middle of his left eyebrow, which will surely leave a scar. The boy is shaking like a leaf. Mr. Whitley pushes the boys hair away from his face, as Jose returns with the girl in his arms. He places her next to the man and then gets inside the car._

"_Sir?" Jose asks._

"_Hmm?" the man answers as he notices the boy's eyelids flutter. Both men look at the boy curiously. Finally, the boy has his grey eyes wide open. A terrified look on his face as he takes in his surroundings. The seats are clean and expensive looking, the man holding him wears a neat suit, and has his hair fixed up neatly. The man's arms holding him securely for no chance at escape. Until, finally his eyes land on his sister's battered body. He scrambles, trying to set himself free. _What will they do to them now? Will they be sent back?_ The boy whips his head around as he hears the snarling and howling outside in the cold dark night. _

_Both men watch as the boy looks outside in pure terror, and silent tears start to stream down his face. His right hand clutching the hand of the girl, who is still unconscious._

"_How old are you, my boy?" Mr. Whitley asks as gently as he can, to not scare the boy any further. They both flinch as he raises seven fingers, but not because of the action. As the boy extends his hand, they notice that even his finger seem to be bruised and pricked. But what mainly catches their attention is the mark around his wrists. His wrists are swollen and bloody, as if he was yanking his hands from some restraints, or shackles. Mr. Whitley makes a quick decision and turns to Jose._

"_Take us home, quickly." He commands. The car is turned on and they are off to the man's house, taking the two children with them._

_0o0o0_

_The boy stares, as both men start carrying the girl into a room. Mr. Whitley tried to tell him it's okay to enter the room, but as soon as his eyes land on all the medical equipment in the room, he started shaking again. Mr. Whitley notices that he is uncomfortable in this room, and tells him to wait outside until the girl feels better, but he refuses to leave her side._

_They soon learn that the girl is his older half sister. Mr. Whitley had his personal doctor, who is also the cook, look after the girl's injuries. Lana, the said doctor and cook, stares in shock at the girl's body as she starts cleaning her up. The girls' injuries are far worse than that of her little brothers when they cleaned him up. But what nearly gives her a heart attack are the pair of broken wings, that were damaged when she landed on her back, attached on to her back. The feathers start a white color from where they meet her shoulder blades and end with a soft brown. They're long and have a few specks on them. The boy didn't seem to have wings on him, so what does he have?_

_After bandaging the girl's body, and trying to care of all the welts, cuts, and bruises, the three grownups turn to the small boy._

"_What's your name, mijo?" Lana asks him gently. The boy debates on whether to trust them or not. They helped them, and gave him food to eat. So he decides to take a risk._

"_Ari," he quietly whispers in a hoarse voice._

"_How about your sister's?" Jose asks._

"_Max" he whispers again._

_O0o0o_

_For the past few days, both grownups discover that the kids escaped a scientific lab called "The School". Max is fourteen years old and of course, she has wings, so she can fly. What they found fascinating was how the boy could morph into an "eraser" as they called it, but along with morphing as a wolf, it included the wings. So while his sister had to hide her wings, all he had to do is retract them into his skin._

_The adults slowly started warming up to them. The only people living in this house were Jose, Lana, and Luis, the gardener, and Mr. and Mrs. Whitley. Since Mrs. Whitley couldn't have kids they decided to take them in. After all, the house was too big for too little people, she argued._

_So Mr. Whitley made it for the kids to change their name to whatever they wanted._

_Ari changed his name from 'Armando Batchelder' to just "Ari Ride", taking the same last name her older sister had._

_Max changed her name of 'Joanna Maximum Montes' to just "Maximum Ride". Taking her moms second last name._


	4. The others

**I'm soooo sorry! I have so much going on this weekend. Like basketball practice, homework, house cleaning ect... Don't worry though; I'll make it up to you guys. Although I still need to find a routine for myself. ****_**

**Chapter 4**

_**One and a half years later**_

**Max pov**

I quickly swipe the card in the slot, and wait as the door slowly opens. It makes a soft swishing noise as it slides open. Both of us run inside, before I close the door behind me. Making sure that there's no one inside besides us, I look around. This is the last room that's left, and from its looks, it's an office. Cabinets line up the wall on the left corner of the room, a desk with a computer right next to it. Some blueprints, graphs, and crude drawings hang on the opposite wall. In the center is a glass table, with a stack of papers scattered all over it. Behind the table, two huge windows show us the outside world, the sky so dark you can see all the twinkling stars individually.

I turn around, to be met with gray eyes. Unspoken words pass between us two; _we don't have much time left._

Quickly, I stride over to the cabinets, while Ari walks towards the glass table. Getting to work, I open the cabinets, and inside are files lined up from A-Z. _Wow, these people just made my life easier. _Skimming through the files, I grab the ones that have interesting labels, and move on to the next cabinet. This one too is neatly organized. I skim through it, and am about to close it when a certain label catches my attention. I take it out and I'm about to open it when I hear the _swish_ of the door, signaling that someone just opened it and is coming. Both Ari and I whirl around, getting ready to fight if necessary, when we finally notice who it is.

"Chill guys. I just came to tell you two to hurry up! We just have two minutes left! "He informs us. His British accent hardly noticeable. He helps us gather the papers we were just holding moments ago and we stuff them in our packs.

I open the window and stop, signaling for Ari to go first. He puts his backpack on and silently morphs, since he can't fly without morphing first. Then he hurls himself out the window and starts flapping, struggling just a little to lift himself up. After all, he doesn't have the same bone structure as I do.

I turn towards my friend. He grabs on to the edge of the window and turns to look at me. His hazel and green eyes meeting my brown ones.

"Don't worry, we'll meet up at your house just like we planned" He tells me.

I nod and wait until he throws himself out the window. I stand still and stare for a while, as he falls five stories down, and then lands quietly and gracefully on the ground. He turns around and looks at me waving and telling me he's fine, before he takes off running into the cover of thousands of trees. Then, he is no longer visible to my raptor vision.

I suddenly remember we have a limited time left. So I throw myself out and snap my wings out. Taking off in the night air, and trying to catch up to Ari, who's a little bit ahead of me.

Knowing that we may have seconds left and that Ari won't be able to go much faster, I go at full speed and finally reach Ari. I grab him and push myself even more to go faster. Just In time too, because suddenly, right behind me where we just came from, I hear a loud BOOM! And I turn around to see a building that is blazing in fire. The brightness of the fire contrasting to the dark night, and disrupting the peace and quiet. After we hear sirens going off in the distance, I turn around, still carrying Ari, and head towards home. Only one thought going through my mind.

_I hope Sam was far away from the explosion already and that he doesn't have trouble on his way there._

_O0o0o0_

I can see the roof of our house from here, so I slowly allow myself to descend. I tilt my wings enough for us to head towards the backyard. Landing quietly on my feet and setting Ari down with me. He quickly jumps off my arms and morphs back into a little kid. All his features returning to a normal little eight-year old boy. His brown fur just going back to his light brown hair, his wings retracting back into his skin. Until there is no canine features on him. The only thing that stands out now is the long scar he has cutting though his left eyebrow and ending where his left cheekbone starts. The one he got when we finally escaped The School. Each time I see it, it brings me pain that I couldn't stop them and anger because of what they did to us. He's my responsibility and I'm his older sister, I should always be there to protect him. When I first met him I made a promise to myself that I would always be there for him, no matter what.

As if he knows what I'm thinking, he comes to me and embraces me in a big hug. _God I love him, he's so cute and the only one who knows what I've been through. Well, almost the only one._ I release him when he suddenly whispers in my ear.

"He's here."

Sure enough, about three minutes later, I hear someone breathing from a small distance from us. I turn around just in time to see Sam emerge from the trees. He's a little out of breath, which is surprising since he doesn't get tired so easily.

Making sure that no one has woken up from the house; both Ari and I fly up to my balcony, while Sam just jumps. Once inside my room we look at each other and break into huge grins. Within seconds we are all laughing and celebrating our successful mission.

Now let me just explain a little. Our 'family' decided we were moving to California because dad has decided it was time for us to start a new life. And yes, we call Mr. and Mrs. Whitley our parents. So before we left, since the three of us had found another Itex building nearby, we decided to finish it off and set all the other experiments free. So Sam "borrowed" one of his dad's bombs from work. Ari and I knocked some guys out before we broke in and set the timer for the bomb. Now that was pretty dumb considering it gave us a limited amount of time. Of course, like with any other mission, we tried to get as many information as we could from each building we visited. So for the past year since we met, we have trailed nine of the bad guys and taken them out. Sam turned out to be an awesome guy and my best friend. And now the three of us are inseparable, except now Ari and I are moving. You might be wondering, why is Sam involving himself with the School? Well, the answer is simple, _he's one of us._ I'm pretty sure the fact that he jumped off a building without breaking any bones and jumping on to the balcony was a dead giveaway. He's a feline, or more like a white tiger. He used to have some sort of heart disease (long QT), so his dad, in a desperate attempt to save his life sent him to a genetics lab. Crazy, I know, but the good thing is that the new DNA he has, saved his life. The bad news, now the whitecoats are after him too. He knows what being tested on feels like; he escaped The School from Britain and moved in here to cold, freezing Seattle with his father. With no mother that is, because she died when he was just twelve. This is another way we both understand each other.

After our laughter died out and we started gasping for air, the three of us throw ourselves onto my bed. Smiling at each other with the stupidest grins ever.

"That was probably the most destruction we've ever made to any building!"Sam whispers to us. In case the adults wake up to check what all the noise is about.

I silently nod my head before getting up.

"We can finish celebrating this later, now let's just report on everything that we have gathered." I say.

Sam quickly goes toward where he dropped his backpack and unzips it. Ari and I follow his actions and then we all sit on my floor criss-cross style. Sam goes first and he pulls out a folder containing pictures of other experiments. A few pictures show some sort of reptile kids, some that seem to be inside tanks and there's one where a girl is inside a cage. I shudder at the memory of being inside a small, compressed cage. And let me tell you, it's not pretty at all.

"This is sick" Sam breathes out as he turns the picture over. On the back of each picture are some notes. Such as: _has difficulty seeing_. _Can stay underwater for ten minutes. _And also, _a complete failure must be terminated._

We all shudder at the last one. This last experiment was killed and if we had come sooner, she might have been saved.

Ari shows us his information but it's not really that useful to us. Just contains notes on how the brain system works.

I can tell Ari feels sad about this, so I reach out and ruffle his hair a little. He looks at me and smiles, his adorable dimple on full display.

Now it's my turn. I take out the folder and place it between us. Both boys suck in a breath as they read the label.

_Human Avian-Hybrids_

I open the folder and look at the first page laying there. The paper looks like a letter to someone and says something like this: _Experiment 1566, 2043, 7889, 7887, 6545, and 1598 still not found. Five of the experiments are thought to be somewhere near California, the last one is yet to be verified. Three boys and three girls. Experiment 6545 escaped two years ago. Two of these already have their wings the others don't. Experiment 1598 escaped with a lupine-hybrid. Ages: three are near sixteen, two are nearly fourteen, and one is eight. All and each one must be found and returned alive._

The folder contains more information, but I don't finish reading it. There are more people like me and they don't know this except one. But also two other things go through my mind.

We're moving to California. Which is where the others are thought to be. And maybe Ari and I can look for them. But there's a problem.

If they know where they are located they will capture them. So we are going to have to work fast if we want to get to them first.

I look at Sam, and he seems to be thinking the same thing.

"Our new mission will be to find these people" Sam tells us. We nod our heads. Then Ari speaks up, "but how are we going to do this if you aren't going to be with us?"

An idea comes to me. "We can Skype, or call each other or meet once every two weeks" I propose.

Sam nods, "That could work. We just need to keep each other informed when we stumble onto something. So are we in this?"

The three of us smile at each other and nod our heads.

Our new mission: find the other human avians before the Whitecoats.

**Ha! I bet you guys didn't see Sam to come out like this! Again, I'm soooo sorry! I'll try updating once a week, until I get settled. Please tell me what you think! :D**


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